Prophecies and Lessons in Daniel

By Robert Page

Daniel was a captive in Babylon. He served secular kings and by the power of God interpreted their dreams and visions, some of which revealed Israel's future. Daniel spent his entire life desiring to know what would happen to his people, the children of Israel. In response to his quest, God revealed much to Daniel through dreams and visions of his own. Prophecies and lessons in Daniel is a verse-by-verse commentary on the prophetic book of Daniel produced by the Lord's guidance during many years of prayerful study and developed from sermons and Bible lessons conducted no less than three times at Victory Baptist Church. It includes historical context and secular history identified to show prophecies in Daniel that have already been fulfilled. It also compares the prophecies in Daniel with relevant passages in both the Old and New Testaments including the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644586884

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Chapter 1

Daniel Purposed in His Heart

¹In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. ²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. ³And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; ⁴Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. ⁵And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. ⁶Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: ⁷Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego. (Daniel 1:1–7)

Before we begin, lets cover some background information because in order to discuss what is taking place here, we need to know something about why did the Babylonian captivity take place in the first place?

Somewhere around 1451 BC, Joshua led the Israeli people across the Jordan river on dry ground into the Promised Land. A little over 800 years later, their descendants are led into captivity. The ten northern tribes that split away from Judah were carried away into captivity by the Assyrians in approximately 721 BC (2 Kings 17:3–4). Then, from 713 BC to 710 BC, the Assyrians under Sennacherib tried to take Judah also, but Hezekiah was king and he was a good king. God killed 185,000 of King Sennacherib’s soldiers in one night, and the king went back to Nineveh (2 Kings 19). Then, King Hezekiah was sick, and God sent the prophet Isaiah to tell him to set his house in order because he was going to die. After Isaiah left, King Hezekiah wept before God; and before Isaiah was out of the inner court, God told him to go back and tell Hezekiah he has fifteen more years to live (2 Kings 20). That brings us to the passage in 2 Kings 20:12–19. Hezekiah was happy. He had been healed of a deadly illness, and God had delivered them miraculously from the hands of the Assyrians. I do not believe you could have found a happier individual in Jerusalem.

¹²At that time Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. ¹⁴Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon. ¹⁵And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. ¹⁶And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. ¹⁷Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. ¹⁸And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ¹⁹Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? (2 Kings 20:12–19)

This is one of the prophecies of the Babylonian captivity. There is more detail given in Jeremiah. Some modernists and liberals have raised controversy over the prophesies of Jeremiah, but Jeremiah’s prophecies are proven out. Everything that Hezekiah showed the Babylonians was going to be carried away to Babylon (verse 17), and in verse 19, we are told that Hezekiah’s seed will be made eunuchs in Babylon. What have we read about Daniel and his friends? They were being made eunuchs in the court of the king of Babylon. At the time that this prophesy was made, Babylon was not the world power yet, but word got back to Babylon about the wealth of Jerusalem and they wanted it.

After that, Hezekiah was king fifteen more years; then, Hezekiah’s son Manasseh was king for fifty-five years. The succession of kings following Manasseh were first Manasseh’s son Ammon for two years; then, Ammon’s son Josiah was king thirty-one years in which time there was a great pseudo-revival (I say it was a pseudo-revival because it seems that not all the nation followed belief in God). Josiah’s son Jehoahaz reigned for three months; then, Jehoiakim (Eliakim the son of Josiah) reigned for eleven years. Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem, and Jehoiakim became a tributary to Babylon. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar carried back to Shinar part of the vessels from the house of God and placed them in the house of his god. He also took some of the captives back with him including some of the king’s seed. Jehoiakim died and his son, Jehoiachin, became king, but Nebuchadnezzar came and removed him from being king and carried him into captivity and made Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle or Jehoiakim’s brother, to be king in his stead. That should take us from 713 BC to approximately 606 BC.

Verse 1 of Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar went up against Jerusalem the first time during the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign. We know from 2 Kings 23:36 that Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years or another eight years after Nebuchadnezzar took the city and made Jehoiakim tributary. We are also told in 2 Kings 24:12 that the king of Babylon carried away Jehoiachin and the other captives in the eighth year of his reign. Since Jehoiachin only reigned for three months, then we know it is speaking about the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar. From that, we can figure out that eight years earlier or about the time he came against Jehoiakim, he had just become king or was about to become king. Some secular historians record that Nebuchadnezzar left Jerusalem for the first time before completing all his business to attend his coronation as his father abdicated the throne to his son (or retired from being king). That was in about 614 BC. Being in a rush to get back to Babylon, he took a few of the princes, of the king’s seed, and part of the vessels of the house of God. Daniel and his three friends were in that group. But Nebuchadnezzar returned in 606 BC to carry away Jehoiachin, his wives, children, and mother and more than 8,000 others along with all the wealth they could carry, leaving Zedekiah in charge of a destitute city.

Now, the reason for their captivity was because they had not obeyed the law and there were many sins of idolatry and corruption in Israel for more than 800 years. There were some times when they did turn back to God but they never really quite got it. They failed to teach the word of God to each successive generation, just as we, as Christians, have failed to teach each successive generation; and with each generation, there are fewer and fewer people who hear the gospel and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ—at least in this country, the United States.

Look at 2 Chronicles 36:15–21. This will bring us up to the Book of Daniel and the prophecy of how long the captivity would be.

¹⁵And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: ¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. ¹⁷Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. ²⁰And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: ²¹To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36:15–21)

The children of Israel had disobeyed God continually going after the idols of the land. In doing so, they failed to observe and keep God’s laws, including observation of the Sabbath year. God sent them prophets to warn them and preach to them to bring them back to God, but the people made fun of God’s messengers and mistreated them. There was nothing else God could do to get the people to repent, so he sent the Babylonians to carry them away. The captivity was to be seventy years. There were three different groups carried away to Babylon, but Daniel was carried to Babylon in the first small group that took place in the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah as stated in Daniel 1:1.

And just in case you are wondering where this Babylon is or was, you can find reference to it in Genesis 11:2 as being in the land of Shinar. This is the same town known as Babel where Nimrod was king, and God did go down and confound their languages there, shortly after the flood. This is the same kingdom that was originally built in rebellion against God. This city of Babylon is in the country we now call Iraq.

There is indication here that Daniel and his friends may have been descendants of Hezekiah in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy to Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:18 that his seed would be made eunuchs in the Babylonian court. Verse 3 of Daniel chapter 1 tells us, certain of the children of Israel and of the king’s seed. They were going to take these young people and school them in the art of becoming Babylonians. They were going to teach them all their ways, all their language, and all their religion. They would stand before the king in his court at the end of those three years of Babylonian college. Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, was given these instructions by the king personally. They were given daily meat and wine so they would be healthy and fair to look upon after graduation. They were given the best of the meats available. The king did not want to look upon anyone that was starving and gaunt.

Now, there was Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were all four godly children. We do not know how old they were exactly, but some have speculated that Daniel was born sometime during the reign of Josiah when there was a revival in Judah and the book of the law was discovered and the Passover was reinstituted, among other things. Had they been born in the twentieth year of Josiah, they would have been approximately fifteen or sixteen years old when they began their Babylonian education.

Nebuchadnezzar told the chief of his eunuchs, Ashpenaz, to pick out some of the children of Israel, of the king’s seed, and of the princes of Israel, certain individuals who were smart, skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge who had the ability to learn so they could teach them the ways and language of Babylon. They were to be without blemish and well favored. In other words, they should be smart and good looking so they could stand before the king in his palace. Those who were to attend this training were assigned portions from the king’s meat and wine so that they might be nourished and trained for three years. There were more than four of the children of Israel in this group, but among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. This was Daniel and his three friends. The prince of the eunuchs gave these four different names, according to his pagan god or gods. Daniel was given the name of Belteshazzar; Hananiah was called Shadrach; Mishael was called Meshach; and Azariah was called Abednego.

⁸But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ⁹Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. ¹⁰And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. ¹¹Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. ¹³Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. ¹⁴So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. ¹⁵And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. ¹⁶Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. (Daniel 1:8–16)

Now we have a very telling statement in Daniel 1:8a:

⁸But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank:

Daniel knew this meat was sacrificed to idols, and there were probably some other meats there that good Jewish boys were not supposed to eat like pork chops or ham and maybe even some barbequed baby-back pork spareribs. Those portions are given as examples with tongue in cheek. We are not given any information as to the cuts of meat or their method of preparation. But the king’s meat probably consisted of some custom or cut of meat that would be deemed as unclean according to the law of God. Daniel made up his mind in the beginning that he was not going to compromise his commitment to God.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful today if Christians purposed in their heart to not defile themselves with the world? But Christians are in all kinds of compromising situations today that practically makes their testimony worthless. Christians get off into pornography because everyone else is doing it. Christians get off in to booze and drugs because everyone else is doing it. Christians get off into all kinds of sinful situations involving adultery, lying, cheating, stealing, covetousness, and idolatry because everyone else is doing it. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank.

Now I ask you, who is the king of this world? Who is the ruler of this world? Who is the prince of this world? Who is the prince of the power of the air in this world?

²Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:2)

¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Satan is the ruler of this world, and until the Lord returns and we occupy that eternal city, we are captives in this evil Babylon or this evil world. Don’t make any deals with the devil. Be like Daniel and purpose in your heart not to defile yourself.

Daniel and his friends were approximately fifteen or sixteen years old when Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s meat nor with the wine that he drank. Do you suppose that Daniel and his friends just all of a sudden got the idea to stand up for the things of God? Do you think they had been living like the devil for fifteen years and then they all of a sudden got the idea that they would stand against the things of the devil? I don’t think so. There was some training that went on when they were little bitty fellows. They were trained up in the things of God. They knew there were people who lived for the devil but their mom and dad had trained them according to Proverbs 22:6.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I know there are many parents who have taught their children the Bible. They had children with the drug problem. They drug them to Sunday school, and they drug them to church (on Sunday morning and Sunday night), and they drug them to prayer meeting on Wednesday night, and they drug them to the family altar, and they drug them to the family dinner table. That is the kind of drug problem we need in our young people today. If we had young people with a drug problem like that, there would be fewer of the other kinds of problems. Children need to be trained by their parents, and it is not just mom’s responsibility.

⁴And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

It is the father’s responsibility to see to the children’s spiritual training and education. But Satan has attacked in the past and is attacking now the family and the home. Divorce and sin are ruling in the families today. There are many husbands and fathers who are going to answer to God for not fulfilling their responsibility as spiritual leader in the family. We need people who are going to purpose in their hearts not to compromise with the world. Don’t eat the king’s meat or drink his wine. Purpose in your heart to remain true to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Stay away from those temptations of the world.

¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. ¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren. (James 1:14–16)

Sin brings death. Sin destroys lives and not only the lives of the person doing the sinning but also others. How many children’s lives have been ruined by a sexual pervert who is a parent or other relative? How many broken homes because of drug addiction, alcoholism, or adultery?

We could go on and on with this. But we need some young people who are going to determine in their hearts not to defile themselves with the king’s meat nor with the wine that he drank. We need some older people who are willing to repent and purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves with the king’s meat and the wine that he drank. We need some parents today who are willing to live up to their parental responsibility and teach those children to purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves with the king’s meat nor with the wine that he drank.

I want you to notice how Daniel approached this situation. He did not get up and start preaching to Ashpenaz and Melzar about the evils of idolatry and eating such meats as were from unclean animals. He did not stand up there and tell them that they were all going to go to hell if Daniel did not get his way. The prince of the eunuchs had refused his request in verse 10. He told Daniel and his friends that he would get in trouble if they looked lean and pale with skin blemishes so it was no deal as far as Ashpenaz was concerned. But then Daniel asked this worldly bunch to just compromise with them a little. He did not compromise with the world, but he asked the world to compromise with